Ministers are preparing to announce measures to crack down on “cowboy” parking firms accused of imposing outrageous fines on motorists. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will launch a consultation on measures to cap charges and debt recovery fees.
But former Transport Minister Lord Spellar accused parking firms of “stringing the Government along for many years” in an effort to avoid regulation. It follows claims that firms employed to enforce parking restrictions on private property are imposing exorbitant fines and sending letters with aggressive demands for payment. Some motorists have been hit with penalties just for just driving in and out of a car park without stopping.
The number of tickets issued has doubled over six years, according to analysis from the RAC. It said private parking companies are set to hand out a record 14.5 million tickets to drivers in 2024-25, costing drivers £1.4bn, more than double the number in 2018-19.
Plans to end rip-off charges were announced by the previous Government announced – but this was blocked when firms launched a legal challenge.
Transport Minister Baroness Taylor said proposals would be put out to consultation. She said “The Government issued a code in February 2022, but it had to be withdrawn in June 2022 because of a legal challenge.”
“The Government are currently actively reviewing how best to raise standards in the industry and plan to launch a consultation about the private parking code of practice in the near future.”
But the Minister warned: “It is important that we take on board the views not only of the motoring public but of all the private parking organisations and motorists’ representatives. We do not want to end up with another legal challenge, which would hold it up even further. It is important we get it right this time.”
Parking management companies that are members of accredited trade associations are currently able to use the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency database to send parking tickets to owners for supposed infringements of parking regulations on private land – and the database receives 35,000 requests for drivers’ details every day.
Laws passed in 2019 already give Ministers the power to remove a company’s access to the database, effectively preventing them from enforcing unpaid parking charges, and Lord Spellar urged Ministers to make it clear they would use the powers they had.
He said: “Companies have been stringing the Government along for many years and we are getting bogged down in process, but their business model totally depends on access to the DVLA register. Why do we not make it clear to the industry that we are going to get this solved, otherwise we will shut off access and its business will collapse straight away?”
